Centennial Concert Hall
Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Pre-Concert Discussion • 6:40 p.m.
Pre-Concert Performance • 7:00 p.m.

Internationally acclaimed dance group La La La Human Steps returns to Winnipeg! Tonight, they present a thrilling new show choreographed to the extraordinary music of Gavin Bryars. Come witness what critics and audiences have been raving about all over the world!

Artists:

La La La Human Steps
Édouard Lock, choreographer
Gavin Bryars, composer
Blake Hargreaves, composer
Njo Kon Kie, musical director and pianist
Jean-Christophe Lizotte, cellist
Jennifer Thiessen, violist
Ida Toninato, saxophonist

Program:

New work

Centennial Concert Hall
Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Pre-Concert Discussion • 6:40 p.m
Pre-Concert Performance • 7:00 p.m

Tonight we bring you a very special evening of music by members of Iceland’s own composer collective – the Bedroom Community! We open with the highly anticipated performance of Credo composed by Kjartan Sveinsson (of the band Sigur Rós), featuring Prairie Voices Choir and our WSO. Nico Muhly joins us this evening for the Canadian premiere his new WSO co-commissioned work, So Far So Good. Distinguished guest artist Shauna Rolston returns to the stage to present the North American premiere of Daniel Bjarnason’s enthralling piece for cello and orchestra,Bow to String.  And finally, we present the North American premiere of Valgeir Sigurðsson’s Dreamland, a new orchestral work based on his soundtrack to the prize-winning documentary of the same name.

Artists:

Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra
Alexander Mickelthwate, conductor
Prairie Voices Choir; Vic Pankratz, director
Shauna Rolston, cello

Program:

Kjartan Sveinsson (IS): Credo (North American premiere)
Nico Muhly (USA): So Far So Good (World premiere)*
Daníel Bjarnason (IS): Bow to String (North American premiere)
Valgeir Sigurðsson (IS): Dreamland (North American premiere)

*Commissioned by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra, and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra

Centennial Concert Hall
Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Pre-Concert Discussion • 6:40 p.m.
Pre-Concert Performance • 7:00 p.m.

In celebration of our Festival’s Icelandic theme, we are proud to present a new work by one of Iceland’s fastest rising stars – Daníel Bjarnason. Come hear the North American premiere of his orchestral work Emergence, a piece hailed for its exquisite colours and emotional profundity. Returning to our Festival this year as our distinguished guest artist is Canada’s superstar cellist Shauna Rolston as she presents the world premiere of Vincent Ho’s newest cello concerto, City Suites, written specially for her and her carbon-fiber cello. This year’s Canadian Music Centre’s “Emerging Composer Prize” winning work receives its premiere performance tonight. Concluding this evening’s program is Alexina Louie’s thrilling concerto for string quartet, Pursuit, performed by our very own WSO String Quartet.

Artists:

Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra
Richard Lee, conductor
Alexander Mickelthwate, conductor
Shauna Rolston, cello
WSO String Quartet

Program

Daníel Bjarnason (IS): Emergence (North American premiere)
Vincent Ho (CAN): City Suites (World premiere)*
Jesse Plessis (CAN): Tender is the Night**
Alexina Louie (CAN): Pursuit

*Commissioned by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and the Winnipeg Arts Council
**Winner of the Canadian Music Centre’s 2012 Emerging Composer Prize

CATS - The show that revolutionized musical theatre is coming to the Centennial Concert Hall in Winnipeg for 3 performances only, March 30 & 31, 2012. Tickets go on sale on Monday, December 19, 2011 at 10:00 am at the Centennial Concert Hall box office, through all Ticketmaster outlets, online at www.ticketmaster.ca or call toll free 1-855-985-5000 . Group orders for 10 or more tickets may be placed by calling 1-800-889-8457.

Photo Credit © 2010, JOAN MARCUS

Produced by CATS-Eye, LLC, the national tour of CATS is the only production in North America sanctioned by Andrew Lloyd Webber. With original direction by Trevor Nunn and choreography by Gillian Lynne, this is the CATS credited with the British invasion of Broadway. CATS celebrated its 30th anniversary on May 11, 2011, holding its place as the longest continuously touring Broadway musical in history. New for the 2011-2012 season will be the reintroduction of “psychic twins” Coricopat and Tantomile. These mystical cats, who are always in sync, were last seen in the Broadway production. Where one goes, the other follows…!

On May 11, 1981, CATS opened at the New London Theatre in the West End. Eight years later, it celebrated its first important milestone: after 3,358 performances CATS became the longest running musical in the history of British theatre. CATS played its final performance on its 21st birthday, May 11, 2002.CATS opened on Broadway on October 7, 1982 at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York City and continued to live up to its motto “Now and Forever.” On June 19, 1997, it became the longest running musical on Broadway. CATS ended its 18 year run on September 10, 2000 with 7,485 performances.

Based on T.S. Eliot‟s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, and with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, CATS won seven 1983 Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Lighting, and Best Costumes.
In October of 1991, CATS became the longest continuously touring show in American theatre history. Five continents, 26 countries, and over eight and a half million audience members later, CATS is still America‟s most loved family musical. Celebrating not only its Broadway touring legacy but the birth of the musical spectacular, CATS is still revolutionary and awe inspiring.

Tickets on Sale Friday, December 9 at www.ticketmaster.ca or by calling 855-985-5000.

Lord of the Dance is a classic tale of good versus evil, based on Irish folklore that brings a passionate love story to life. Flatley, along with Dance Director Marie Duffy-Pask, hand picked the cast of over 40 dancers; each has achieved individual recognition as a national or worldwide dance champion. Described by the New York Post as “fascinating, rewarding and above all, entertaining,” and by the Los Angeles Times as “a showpiece extravaganza,” Lord of the Dance is a mesmerizing blend of traditional and modern Celtic music and dance.  The story is based upon mythical Irish folklore as Don Dorcha, Lord of Darkness, challenges the ethereal lord of light, the Lord of the Dance.  Battle lines are drawn, passions ignite and a love story fueled by the dramatic leaps and turns of dancers’ bodies begins to build against a backdrop of Celtic rhythm.  The action is played out over 21 scenes on a grand scale of precision dancing, dramatic music, colorful costumes and state-of-the-art staging and lighting.

Paul Mercs Concerts is pleased to present Canadian tour dates for the legendary B.B. King.  The tour stops in Winnipeg May 16, 2012 at the Centennial Concert Hall.

Fifteen-time Grammy Award winner, Member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Member of the Blues Hall of Fame, B.B. King is inarguably the most imitated of living blues guitarists.  His influence on music around the world is incalculable.

Since B.B. King started recording in the late 1940s, he has released over sixty albums, many of them considered blues classics.  He developed one of the world’s most readily-identified guitar styles.  B.B. King has mixed traditional blues, jazz, swing, mainstream pop, and jump into a unique sound.  His singing is richly melodic, both vocally and in the “singing” that comes from his guitar, ‘Lucille’.

Tickets for the Winnipeg show are available online at www.ticketmaster.ca, by phone at 1.855.985.5000 or in person at all Ticketmaster outlets.

For more information on B.B. King, please visit www.bbking.com.

STUART McLEAN is one of Canada’s most beloved storytellers and a best-selling author. His hit CBC radio show THE VINYL CAFE premiered in 1994, and each week over 1 million listeners tune in to hear stories about Dave, owner of the second hand record store where the motto is: “We May Not Be Big, But We’re Small”.

The stories also feature Dave’s wife, Morley, their two children, Sam and Stephanie, and assorted friends and neighbours.

The show also features live and recorded music by both up-and-coming and established Canadian musicians. Increasingly, it is becoming a place where Canadians go to find new, undiscovered talent.

Stuart’s most recent book Vinyl Cafe Notebooks: a collection of essays from The Vinyl Cafe has just been released in paperback.

Vinyl Cafe Notebooks is Stuart McLean’s ninth book and each one has been a best seller. Stuart has sold over 1 million books in Canada.

The books are: The Morningside World of Stuart McLean (1989), Welcome Home: Travels in Small Town Canada (1992), Stories from the Vinyl Cafe (1995), Home from the Vinyl Cafe (1998), The Vinyl Cafe Unplugged (2000), Vinyl Cafe Diaries (2003) and Secrets from the Vinyl Cafe (2006), Extreme Vinyl Cafe (2009) and Vinyl Cafe Notebooks (2010). Home from the Vinyl Cafe, Vinyl Cafe Unplugged and Secrets from the Vinyl Cafe have all received the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour. The Vinyl Cafe Diaries (2003) was chosen as the best short story collection of the year by the Canadian Author’s Association.

Stuart has also just released his tenth collection of Vinyl Cafe stories on compact disc. For the first time this new album, Vinyl Cafe Family Pack, is a four disk package that chronicles the lives of Dave, Morley, their kids and the family pets.

One of Stuart’s albums, Coast to Coast Story Service, has gone Gold in Canada.